Revenues posted by Orange, the biggest mobile telephony operatorin Romania, fell by 10.2% in the first quarter of the year againstthe similar period of last year, to 237 million euros, while thenumber of company's clients rose by 7%, to 10.809 million.
"The rise in the post-paid customer base, thanks to intensemoves aimed at ensuring client loyalty, and revenue stabilisation,are the indicators that marked the company's performance in thefirst quarter of the year, despite this being traditionally a weakseason," said Orange CEO Thierry Millet. "The improvement in therevenue progression from month to month confirms the economicstabilisation prospects for this year," he added.
Orange Romania had collected 264 million euros in revenues inthe first three months of 2009, amid a 10.118 million-client base.In the first quarter of 2009 the company announced a 14% revenuedecline. The first quarter is generally weaker for mobile telephonycompanies, as compared with the end of the year (October -December).
The significant improvement in the rate of decline for revenuesof Orange Romania, from -24% in the fourth quarter of 2009, to -10%in the first quarter of 2010, is considered by France Telecom, theoperator's owner, as the best performance achieved by the group onEuropean markets, apart from France, Spain, Poland, and the UK. Theslowdown in the decline rate in Romania led to a 4% improvement inthe overall progression of revenues on these markets, from -2.9% inthe fourth quarter of 2009, to a 1.2% rise in the first threemonths of 2010.
The annualised average revenue per user (in the 12 months endedin March) continued its decline, to 88 euros in the first quarterof this year, from 114 euros at the end of the corresponding periodof 2009, and to 92 euros at the end of December 2009.
Revenues from the company's telecom services amounted to 214million euros, down 11% on last year, whilst revenues from sales ofmobile phones, SIM cards, and other equipment, amounted to 23million euros, down 4%, according to data in the France Telecomreport.
The only segment that did not see a revenue decline was the dataand Internet services segment: Orange collected around 30 millioneuros both in the first quarter of 2010, and in the first quarterof 2009.
"Revenues derived from data services accounted for 13.8% ofservice revenues reported in the first quarter, up from 12.4% lastyear. The rise of data services revenues reflects an improveddegree of adoption of high-speed mobile Internet services,available on mobile phones and on PCs across Romania. Alongside thecoverage of Orange's data network, another factor that contributedsignificantly to this rise was the introduction of smartphoneoffers. Smartphone sales doubled in the first quarter of this yearagainst the similar period of last year," Orange said.
